The sleep apnea hit me like a ton of bricks today. I have been too sleepy to do anything including blogging or recording more for Folk Music Notebook. I’m not over it. I just yawned. Maybe I should make another pot of coffee and this time inject it straight into my veins. I’m going to fight it long enough to blog and see how I feel then.
Last night I went to the Knick game; they played the Washington Wizards. The Wizards had eight players out; they still managed to beat the Knicks 121 – 115. I won the prediction game with Alan; I had the Wizards winning 114 – 111. The Knicks are very bad. In all fairness the Knicks were missing two players too including Marcus Morris, who has been their best player. That doesn’t make him good. Why do I go? I enjoy basketball and more importantly I enjoy spending time with Alan. I just wish I could get excited about the team. I have spent much of the last 19 years rooting for them to lose so that the management doesn’t fool themselves into thinking they are good. That has happened repeatedly. The owner, James Dolan, still has not caught on that he doesn’t have a clue. The team has the worst record in the NBA since he took over the team. They made one good move over those years, signing Kristaps Porzingis. He was hurt last season when they traded him. They traded him because they succeeded in alienating him, their best player of the last 19 years. This year he is coming back from the injury and is far from 100%. He has earned 1.7 WAR the same as Morris. He was traded for cents on the dollar, they got back Dennis Smith Jr; so far this season he’s earned – 0.7 WAR, yes that’s negative, and two first round draft picks. That might not sound so bad until you realize that he was traded to a very good team that is going to get very late draft pick, not like the Knicks have been getting. The Knicks top picks over the last three years, the worst of which was an eighth pick, have combined for a WAR of – 1.3. The Knicks don’t know how to draft, and they don’t know how to develop players. The one time they did Dolan’s ego got in the way and alienated the player. That’s enough of a basketball rant.
Today is Christmas Eve. I’m going to stay home and work on Folk Music Notebook content if I can stay awake enough. Once I record and air my top album list I’ll be able to post it here. It’s a very good list. One thing I’ve noticed looking at other lists is how many confuse best albums, best movies, best baseball players, etc., with lifetime achievement awards. “Old reliable has an album, I’ll put it on my list.” I once went to a perfectly dreadful performance by an artist, the crowd lost all interest in the show which was all new material. I still heard a few people refer to it as “his usual brilliance.” Everything he performed then has fallen off everybody’s rotation. It’s not just a difference of opinion, like people that don’t realize that Dawes is an offense to good music. It’s more along the lines of what the Mets have done so often over the years, signing an over-the-hill player based on what he used to be able to do. Think Robinson Cano, Roberto Alomar, and Carlos Baerga. They keep making exactly the same mistake at the same position, second base. It’s the position where players wash up the earliest. It’s the wear and tear of all those slides breaking up double plays.
My Christmas plan is to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. I’m a good Jew going to the movies on Xmas. I probably won’t get Chinese food, I’ll eat dinner at home. I have never been a big Star Wars fan. I rewatched The Last Jedi in preparation and was once again struck by it’s stupidity. Yet, I can’t resist watching the next chapter. Sometimes I go for mass entertainment. I had a friend that said I didn’t like anything that was popular. Totally untrue. I love the Marvel films and TV.
I’m feeling a bit more awake. I can’t record now because the people in the apartment above me invited elephants over for a dance. Should I be insulted that they never invite me to their parties? I don’t think so. elephants have the huge ears so they can hear the music. All I hear I them stomping about. One of them just knocked over something. Good thing this is a solidly built prewar building. I don’t think a flimsy new building could bear the elephantine weight.
Wise Madness 